''Midnight House'' is a

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspe ...

by the British writer

Ethel Lina White Ethel Lina White (2 April 1876 – 13 August 1944) was a British crime fiction, crime writer from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Wales. She was best known for her novel ''The Wheel Spins'' (1936), on which the Alfred Hitch ...

, which was first published in 1942. It was published in America by Harper under the alternative title ''Her Heart in Her Throat''.

Synopsis

In a small English town, Elizabeth is employed as the

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

of two small children of the widowed Captain Pewter. The house is located in an isolated

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

of houses. The house next door has been shut up for many years where a tragic illicit romance once took place. To Elizabeth's alarm the Captain's son Barney appears to still be under the influence of his former governess Maxine who had been dismissed by the Captain. In addition an apparently deranged man is killing woman in the streets. Elizabeth becomes convinced that there is a connection between the killings, Maxine and the old empty house next door.

Film adaptation

In 1945 it was adapted into a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

film '' The Unseen'' directed by Lewis Allen and starring

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

Gail Russell Gail Russell (born Betty Gale Russell; September 21, 1924 – August 26, 1961) was an American film and television actress. Early years Gail Russell was born to George and Gladys (Barnet) Russell in Chicago and then moved to the Los Angeles ...

and

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen, and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Un ...

.Goble p.498 The film shifted the setting from England to the United States.

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. 1942 British novels British thriller novels Novels by Ethel Lina White British mystery novels Collins Crime Club books Novels set in England British novels adapted into films {{1940s-mystery-novel-stub